Oracles of the Living God

What do Peter's words mean?

1 Peter 4:10  As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: 11  whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. 

Meaning of "Oracles":

Oracles (λόγια)

In classical Greek, of the oracular responses of heathen deities. Here, in 1 Peter 4:11, divine utterances or revelations. Compare Acts 7:38; Romans 3:2; Hebrews 5:12.

Act 7:38  This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us

Pulpit Commentary: The apostle's meaning may be either that the Christian teacher was to speak as do the oracles of God, that is, the Scriptures, or (and the absence of the article rather favors this view) that he was so to yield himself to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, that his teaching should be the teaching of God; he was to seek no praise or reward for himself, but only the glory of God. 

So, what are we to understand from what Peter is saying here and how is this evidenced in our Church gatherings?

Those in the world, who lecture in classrooms, whether a public school or college, are expected to have done their homework and prepared teachings that are based in facts and information gathered empirically from world studies. We expect this and well we should...we are simply after gaining comprehensive knowledge of things contained in this world alone.

But, those who claim to represent God are called to a completely "other" form of communication, and just as we evaluate those who speak in a public educational framework, we are to evaluate favorably or unfavorably those who claim to speak from God on the basis of whether those communications create an inward "Holy Spirit agreement" as to being information coming from Him...more than just factual information gathered from the world or even a factual analysis of the meaning of Scripture. There is to be a sense of authentic and fresh insight being given by the Holy Spirit...something we would otherwise not see or know if it weren't for His special assistance of revelation or illumination.

This, I believe, is a critical need in the Church, especially from its leaders, all throughout time, and its absence leads to spiritual languishing in the flock and a sense of the absence of the real presence of the Lord in their gatherings. If Jesus is Lord of the gatherings, and the time together is genuinely given to Him, with the anticipation of His immediate communication of things from His heart for the current or future needs of the gathered congregation, then we should expect that those uniquely called and gifted to hear from and speak from Him will do so and we will thus be edified, both in terms of knowledge and awareness of His "livingness" among us.  We need this. A distant, aloof, disconnected God is not something the New Testament writers envisioned for the body of Christ.

Listen to John on this:

1 John 1:3  that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 

From this passage it is clear that John anticipated a living ongoing fellowship with Jesus and that from this would come forth "proclamations" to live by. We are to regularly "see and hear" from Him and this seeing and hearing would define the meaning of our living fellowship with a living God, the Lord Jesus. Apart from this and we would tend to conclude that He either had gone somewhere else, or was no longer interested in speaking to us, or that He had nothing more to say. None of these are valid New Testament conclusions from the apostles. They clearly believed Jesus would regularly communicate to us based on His words in John 10.

John 10:27  My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

Such a promise is indeed wonderful and was the only thing that would ultimately have encouraged His disciples to not lose heart when He returned to heaven.

John 14:16  And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,

17  even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. 18  "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19  Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.

John 14:26  But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

These verses all leave us the clearest of impressions that we could anticipate an ongoing fresh revelation of the person and mind of Christ throughout time...not in information designed to add to Scripture, since the apostles were the only ones given that level of revelation, but an ongoing fresh communication from Him to His Church for edification, exhortation, and comfort. If such a communication is a regular experience in our Churches then our people will continually experience the sense of His realness and His genuine presence in our lives, and conversely, the absence of such freshness will lead to a stale, cold, perfunctory experience with a dead letter of bible facts being spewed into the congregation week after week leading to a coldness of relationship with Christ.

So here is my concern...where is the modern Church in relationship to these words? Are those tasked with the responsibility of communicating freshly from Jesus actually doing so? Or, have they devolved into simply being professional Christians who lead, teach, and communicate from nothing more than an historical regurgitation of biblical facts and information? If this is so, and I suspect this is all too often the case, those leading the body of Christ must return to some serious quiet time before the Lord, inquiring of Him as to what has happened to them and asking why they aren't hearing His heart any longer. Surely He would be willing to restore this in them. Surely we would believe this would be of more concern to Him than to any of us. He alone would know more perfectly how important and life-giving His personal Word to His flock would be? As was obvious from His comforting His disciples just prior to His death, He obviously has compassion for our sense of need to hear from Him on a regular basis. This is just what He was promising them...nothing short of this would have brought them any comfort at that moment.

I'm not suggesting the body of Christ needs a fresh set of predictive prophecies, new truths not previously contained in the bible, or weird new interpretations of old truths so as to gain new followings for charismatic cult leaders. Our need is for Jesus to freshly reveal old truths, fresh insights as to Who He really is, what He thinks, His attitudes, His heart, His wisdom, and His grace. When these are our regular fare in our Church gatherings then our Churches will be vibrant and alive. When these are lacking then Church tends to become stale, rigid, legalistic, and boring.

Here is your calling...Church leaders...arise to your truest calling! More than being called to control the flock, manipulate the flock for personal goals, gain a salary, or be impressed with titles and positions, we are called to hear fresh things in Him and deliver them in a manner that clearly evidences Jesus speaking to His flock. It is His flock we serve...they are not our own flock. We must let Him speak to them, and require of ourselves to step enough aside so as to allow and anticipate His communicating to them week by week, and if we do this He will never disappoint. He knows we need this. He desires for this to happen more than we do. This alone will revive our gatherings into something far more special than just "we honored the Lord by going to Church today," into "Church was so rich today...I could just sense Him speaking through the pastor today...it was like He was speaking to me alone...I saw things in Him I'd never seen that way before...it was a great time in His presence..."  This can and must return to His Church. It is this that Peter was calling for and therefore we, in the modern intellectual age of empirical science, must believe the Lord for a fresh Word to His Church.

Does this resonate with you? Is this what you are experiencing when you gather with the saints that you gather with?